Emily Dickinson

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Emily Dickinson

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born to Edward, and Emily Norcross Dickinson on December 10th, 1830, in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was believed that during her childhood, the household was a joyless, restrictive life. Scholars believed that it was dominated by a tyrannical father, but since then, that vision has been modified. Now, it appears that the Dickinson children’s lives were very normal. They spent their days with the usual childhood activities, playing games and pranks, also splashing through mud puddles and exploring the countryside. As they grew older, they went to parties and fretted over infatuations and complained about household chores. Emily had two other siblings. Lavina, her sister was two years younger than Emily, and Austin, who was one year older, was her brother, and her best friend.
At 17, Emily enrolled at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She left ten months later for an unknown reason. When she quit, it marked the end of her Formal education but kept teaching herself, studying poetry, and other writings. She even knew much of the Bible by heart.
She felt very strongly about how poetry made her feel. She once said to a friend, “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”
Emily attempted to get her works published in the early 1860’s. She sent her writings to Thomas Wentworth. She sent four of her poems to him in her very first attempt to be a publishing poet. He knew she had raw talent, an his response was significant. However, her rough rhythms and imperfect rhymes were counting big against her. He suggested she change that as well as her spelling and grammar. Emily chose not to publish anything then.
The death of her father marked the beginning of Emily’s physical reclusiveness from the world. But the separat...